Social Justice Highlight: Haudenosaunee Indigenous Values Initiative

As November is Native American Heritage Month, we will be donating to support the Haudenosaunee Indigenous Values Initiative to raise awareness about Indigenous history and the ongoing struggle of Indigenous people. We acknowledge that we as a business and as individuals are on Haudenosaunee land here in Western New York and recognize the need for us to learn about, and redistribute wealth to, the Indigenous communities that have experienced land theft and genocide. 

The Haudenosaunee Indigenous Values Initiative website offers this information about their organization and mission:

NYA•WEÑHA SKÄ•NOÑH: Thank you for being well
The Indigenous Values Initiative is dedicated to articulating, disseminating and promoting values expressed by the leadership of the Onondaga Nation, the Central Fire (or Capital) of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (made up of the Seneca, Tuscarora, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk nations).  Haudenosaunee means “People of the Longhouse,” and are most often mistakenly referred to as the “Iroquois”). The Onondaga Nation is unique to the world, in that they are the only Native Nation recognized by the United States, and the United Nations, that still operates according to their pre-colonial clan form of government. The Haudenosaunee organize themselves in a matrilineal clan system of extended families.  Their ceremonies are aligned to phases of the moon, and are based on thanksgivings to the natural world.  As we all face climatic changes, it is urgent that human beings reorient themselves to the rhythms of the earth.  Indigenous value systems need to be heeded in these troubled times.  Intercultural understanding, however, must be based on healing generations from colonization, missionization, genocide and assimilation.  The Haudenosaunee understand the need for collaboration with individuals, institutions, communities, governments and businesses to articulate, disseminate and promote the ancient and enduring values of Indigenous Peoples traditions to the world. The Indigenous Values Initiative (IVI) raises funds to support educational projects which will disperse information through conferences, classes, exhibitions, publications, speakers, expositions, etc. (https://indigenousvalues.org/about/)

As November is Native American Heritage Month and we are located on Haudenosaunee land, we will be donating to the Indigenous Values Initiative to support this organization's crucial work in advocacy and education.

We also encourage you to read about the Landback Movement which states that "To truly dismantle white supremacy and systems of oppression, we have to go back to the roots. Which, for us, is putting Indigneous Lands back in Indigenous hands." (https://landback.org/)

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